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Jean-Luc Picard
| occupation = Captain | serial number = | posting = USS Stargazer (2333-2355); (2364-2371) (2372-2385); (2385); Task Force Invincible (2385-present) | rank = (2327-2330) (2330-2333) (2333) (2333-2355) (2364-2366) (2366-2370) (2371-2373) (2373-2382) (2382-2385) (2385-present) | status = Alive | father = | mother = | siblings = Robert Picard (Brother) | marital = Married | spouse = Beverly Crusher | children = | relative = | image2 = Jean-Luc_Picard,_2364.jpg | caption2 =Jean-Luc Picard in 2364 }} Jean-Luc Picard was a legendary Starfleet officer in the 24th century, most famous for commanding the , the , and the . As of 2385, he is the Commanding Officer of the and the Flag Officer-in-Command of Task Force Invincible, which is attached to Vanguard Fleet and Vanguard Command. Early Life Jean Luc Picard was born in Labarre, France, on Earth in 2305. He had few friends as a youngster and self-admittedly "skipped his childhood," due to his early, single-minded drive to be in Starfleet. Though shy, he took piano lessons only to please his mother; he hated public performance and soon quit - a move he now regrets. He did build airships in bottles when young, and like his nephew years later he wrote a ribbon-winning report on starships; reading of the ancient Bajorans in the fifth grade might have been another influence on his lifelong passion for archeology. Later he was school president, valedictorian and a star athlete. Picard is described as a tall balding man who strikes a bearing pose and has a kind face. He is well built and muscular. He is a very quiet man, tending to keep to himself when off duty rather than mix with his fellow officers. Picard is one of nature’s explorers and loves to discover new lifeforms or unearth buried civilizations. His love for history is apparent and his quarters and ready room are filled with his findings, books and other items from his long career. Picard loves sports and is a keen horseman, fencer, and rock climber and spends a lot of his spare time in pursuit of these on the Holodeck. Starfleet Academy Picard failed his first try on the Academy entrance exams in 2322 but only required one more to finally pass in 2323. He eventually graduated in 2327. Early Starfleet Career His lack of self-discipline as a young officer nearly led to his death in a near-fatal stabbing at in 2328 while awaiting post-graduation assignments. Picard went on as a lieutenant to meet Ambassador Sarek at the wedding of his son Starfleet legend Spock to senior Starfleet officer Saavik. The USS Stargazer In an early highlight of his invincible and fondly recalled years aboard the , Second Officer Jean-Luc Picard took command of the bridge upon the death of his Commanding Officer and the ship's First Officer and saved the vessel, eventually leading to his permanent promotion to the rank of Captain in 2333. This effectively made the Stargazer his first command assignment, during which he made his name in the history books of the Federation by his actions. It was only a year before the Stargazer's loss, in 2354, that his First Officer and friend Jack Crusher was killed on an away team. Picard's command over the was cut short when his ship was attacked by a Ferengi marauder in 2355. By jumping to warp a second before the ship fired on the Stargazer his vessel appeared to be in two places at once allowing the Stargazer to open fire on the Ferengi vessel and destroy it. This later became known as the "Picard Maneuver" and is still taught in tactical classes in the Academy. Although the feat worked, the Stargazer was lost and had to be abandoned. Picard was court-martialed for the loss of the Stargazer but was exonerated of all charges against him. The USS Enterprise-D A few years later after proving his worth both as a ship’s captain and a skilled negotiator, Picard was given the command of a new starship that would become the flagship of the Federation, the . The fifth in a long line of ships to bear this name, the Enterprise-D was then a state of the art starship that would play home and work place to over a thousand people. Unlike many vessels before it the Enterprise-D was a ship of peace and exploration and not only carried many Starfleet officers on board but also their families. Picard assumed captaincy of the in 2364, having hand-picked much of his senior staff - such as two young officers who impressed him enough upon first meeting to win a place in the senior staff. Owing to a single-minded drive since childhood for a Starfleet career, Picard has "never been a family man" and was long uncomfortable with the starship's civilian family contingent. He stated that he was the first member of the Picard family to join Starfleet. Within months of his Enterprise captaincy he was offered admiral's rank and the job of Commandant of Starfleet Academy, but turned it down to keep his flagship. During their first year, Picard and his crew successfully managed to avert a hostile take over of the Federation by an alien race that had infiltrated Starfleet at the highest levels. In 2371, the Enterprise-D was destroyed over Veridian III. The Enterprise-E Most of the senior crew of the Enterprise-D was shortly reassigned to the , the sixth Federation starship to bear the name. The was launched in early 2372. After a one-year shakedown cruise, Picard was ordered away from repelling a second Borg attack for fear of giving unwitting aid to the enemy, but after reconsidering he led a deflection of the main assault. the new was nearly lost when the senior staff decided to sacrifice the ship in order to save Earth's future by preventing the Borg on board from changing history. Fortunately, the crew was able to repel the Borg attempt without having to destroy the Enterprise-E. Shinzon and the Battle of Bassen Rift Picard continued in command of the Enterprise through 2379, when the ship was sent to Romulus after the coup by Praetor Shinzon. Shinzon was a clone of Picard created by a former Romulan government – they intended to replace the captain with a spy of their own. Following a change of government, the plan was abandoned and Shinzon was sent to Remus to die. Instead, he prospered, becoming a highly successful leader during the Dominion War. Shinzon used a thalaron radiation weapon to eradicate the Romulan Senate and had planned to do the same to Earth. He needed Picard in order to repair faults in his own genetic makeup. In a pitched battle between the Enterprise and Shinzon's flagship, the Scimitar, at an area of space called the Bassen Rift, Picard was eventually able to board the enemy ship and eliminate Shinzon. Data saved Picard's life by transporting the captain back to the Enterprise before sacrificing his own life; he destroyed the Scimitar by firing on the thalaron weapon with a hand phaser, thereby saving the over 800 men and women aboard the Enterprise. Starfleet performance evaluation An accomplished diplomat and tactician, Picard managed to surpass a sterling 22-year career as First Officer and later Commanding Officer of the with an even more impressive record as Captain of the fleet's peace-time flagship, the (and then later the ). In the latter role he not only witnessed the major turning points of recent galactic history but played a major role in them as well, from surviving as the only human abductee of the Borg invasion in 2366, to becoming the chief contact point with the Q Continuum, to serving as arbiter choosing the ruler of the Klingon Empire and exposing the Romulans as backers of his chief rivals, later helping a pacifist underground movement led by Ambassador Spock to gain a toehold in the Romulan Star Empire. Having to be patient in the presence of mounting problems, even if it is unavoidable or even the best path to take, is unsettling to him; nevertheless, he has shown a clear skill in knowing when to solicit opinions and when to act decisively. His Enterprise Operations Officer, Data, once estimated only a 17% chance that Picard would be so indecisive in a crisis as to call Starfleet for instructions. His command presence and ethics persevered even through a past memory wipe - despite orders, he would not fire on unarmed people. Though he often heatedly defends a strict interpretation of the Prime Directive, he has broken it numerous times when he felt it was warranted. He also chafes at the Starfleet directive banning Commanding Officers from most away-team missions in uncertain or hostile situations. He has a very wry sense of humor, that is well hidden under a veneer of composure. Part of Picard's private nature includes a difficulty in confronting deep personal issues, which then tend to become suppressed. Philosophically, he sees life and death as more than two choices of eternal or momentary existence; in fact, he believes there is another concept yet beyond human understanding. Genetic engineering with its pre-determination disturbs him, saying it robs humanity of the unknown factor that makes life worth living. An historian, and archaeologist and talented musician, Picard tends to keep to himself much of the time and finds very little time for romance, though an encounter with an alien probe changed his views on life and romance, he still remains a bachelor. Picard keeps a healthy outlook on life with a wide variety of interests and recreational pursuits, including his near-professional pursuit of archeology. He has a great love of history He enjoys Human literature in its written rather than holo-visual display, especially detective fiction and Shakespearean drama; oddly enough, while he enjoys role-playing the former in holo-programs where he assumes the role of the lead character, he avoids acting or any other performance art himself despite an interest in classical music and attending the shipboard concerts and plays on the Enterprise. Picard's interests go well beyond archeology and literature, however. The subject of planetary motion and physics is another; he kept up with the Atlantis Project on Earth through journals; and is fascinated to be the first to discover the spacefaring life form, communicate with the Crystalline Entity, and reveal an ancient battle cruiser. He has studied semantics and keeps his Latin fresh, but has no interest in politics, dance, small animals, or the Enterprise senior staff's poker game until his 2370 encounter with Q and an alternate future timeline. Picard enjoys excellent health, thanks to a regimen carried over from his days as an athlete. He still finds time for fencing, racquetball and equine sports, usually by Holodeck, but he does show a tendency for overwork, avoids formal vacations, and has reported bouts of insomnia. He has an aversion to annual physicals. Owing to a fatal stabbing through the heart in a brawl as a newly-graduated ensign in 2328, a cardiac device later found to be defective was implanted to save his life. The unit required replacement when it malfunctioned in 2365, overseen at Starbase 212 by then- Chief Medical Officer Dr. Katherine Pulaski. Four years later in a near-fatal attack using compressed tetryon weaponry, the cardiac device was damaged and replaced. He suffered head trauma to the right temple area in the same incident that led to Jack Crusher's death in 2354, and has sustained numerous injuries on occasion, none with long-lasting physical damage. Picard has compiled a legendary career and laudable accomplishments in both diplomacy and tactics, but the fact remains that he abandoned his first command -- a decision cleared by court-martial review -- and lost his second. While his quick accession to a new command betrayed any concern at Starfleet about his emotional fitness to lead a starship, it did play a factor in delaying his eventual decision surrounding the aborted abandonment and self-destruct of the USS Enterprise to stop the Borg temporal invasion to Earth's 21st century. In this case, thanks to the interference of a strong-willed contemporary associate of Zefram Cochrane, Picard was persuaded that self-destruct was his only option, then thankfully found other options that saved his vessel -- including his unusually strong bond with longtime Second Officer, Lieutenant Commander Data. All this made Picard a legend among his peers and he became one of the Federation's leading officers. No less than legendary CO of the and himself, James Kirk, said that Picard carried the "enterprise tradition" well. Jean-Luc Picard will go down in history as one of the best minds and greatest assets that the Alpha Quadrant has ever known. 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